Manager looks ahead to life after Brora Rangers as he prepares for final game
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Ally MacDonald says he hopes to continuing playing football in the future despite standing down as player manager of Brora Rangers.
The boss will take charge of his final game of the Cattachs against Turriff United at King George V Park in Goslpie tomorrow afternoon.
The 35-year-old full back will bring his 14 months in charge of Brora Rangers to a close tomorrow afternoon and a 12-year association with the Cattachs where he won 12 medals.
MacDonald said his reasons for standing down as manager was due to the commitment which the role involves.
But he hopes that he still has a few more years of playing football left him and is still looking to play in the future.
Looking ahead to the future, he said: “I am just looking forward to a bit of rest and switch off as it has been a long time.
Being at Brora as a player and a manager, I'm looking to get a bit of a life back and time away.
But I'm not hanging up the boots yet, I've got a wee bit of football left in me.
“Whether my stock has dropped, as it is only North Caledonian League offers I have been getting, not any Highland League offers. Maybe that is where I am.
“But it was the management aspect which brought my decision. It was a big commitment and fair play to everyone who does it. I need a couple of months away and then see where I am football wise near the start of the next season.”
MacDonald picked up an hamstring injury in the 2-1 defeat to Brechin City last weekend and he sat out the 1-0 win over Wick Academy on Wednesday where Colin Williamson scored the winner midway through the second half.
The win means Brora Rangers will finish in sixth place.
MacDonald remains hopeful that he can take to the pitch one last time when Brora face Turriff tomorrow afternoon in the final game of the Highland season.
I did my hamstring against Brechin City after 30 minutes and in the warm up before Wick I decided it wasn't happening. Hopefully, I can get involved in it on Saturday. I just want to go out on a positive note with a win.
“We want to compete at the top end and finish as high as we can. We have done that and hopefully we can finish off with a win with the boys.”
Speaking about the win against Wick Academy on Wednesday night, MacDonald said: “We got the win and that was the most important thing.
“We are trying to motivate ourselves and finish as high as we can. In a derby game you always need to win them and it always is an incentive.
But the game itself, the quality was poor. The first half especially was poor and we didn't get out of first gear. That was the message at half time. We thought we got as good as we were going to get from Wick so we had to step it up a bit.
“We showed that in the second half and in a 10 to 15 minutes spell we put the pressure on and got the goal. Fair play to the boys to have the desire to still win these games. We got what we wanted.”
